Marjorie Kernan's The Ballad of West Tenth Street
I'm going to say flat-out that this is a strong contender for my best of 2009 list (I stayed up super late to read it all in one sitting). It's about an eccentric family in Manhattan--the widow of a famous rock star and her two children (technically three, but one is institutionalized)--and what happens to them when a mysterious and kindly man moves in next door. The characters in this book are just amazing and the majority of it is totally heartwarming, but not in a cheesy or treacly way. I will say that something very sad happens toward the end--I cried and cried, and it's been a long time since a book made me sob like that--but somehow the ending is hopeful and happy. This book scores a nearly unprecedented A+.
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